


Sweeter Than Chocolate

by pullingbeckettspigtails



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3355910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pullingbeckettspigtails/pseuds/pullingbeckettspigtails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of hearing his wife repeat 'Don't get me anything' for every holiday, he knows how to find a loophole. And this Valentine's day, he's enlisting the help of his two children to make a gift. Because that's technically not him getting her anything, right? </p><p>My Valentine's gift to AKJ4, have a great day!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweeter Than Chocolate

 

He shoved his face into the pillow, managing to conjure up his wife's image in his mind as he heard her hobbling around their bedroom. The beeping of her hair curler, the water gushing as she washed her face, the faint scrubbing of a toothbrush, the zips of her boots; one then the other and finally the loud rhythm of her heels as she approached the bed side once more.

"I'm off to work, see you at around 7." She whispered, using the hand that wasn't grasping her phone to ruffle Rick's hair, emitting a muffled sigh from him.

"G'bye." He murmured, to which Kate let out a little chuckle.

"Go back to sleep, babe. Both the munchkins are still in bed. Savour it." She added with a smile.

"Mhm." Castle mumbled, bringing the covers up to his face, but not before his partner gave him a quick peck on the lips.

He heard her leave their room and walk through the loft at a hurried pace, and listened intently for the lock of the main door turning, signalling her depart.

As soon as he heard the metal clanking, his plan was set into action.

* * *

 

Rick sprung out of bed, the polar opposite of the man Kate had left behind, and shuffled around to find his dressing gown and the navy blue slippers Alexis had gifted to him for Christmas. Once he was dressed, he strode to the kitchen, immediately starting up the coffee maker and stretching up to the top cupboard to set out the cereal boxes for the kids (whilst trying to ignore the loud popping sound his back made with the exertion).

After a few minutes, he had expertly conjured up two plates of fruit, both creating a smiley face since it's the only way the children will eat healthily, with two Sippy cups on the table; one pink and one blue, both filled with milk. He stepped back for a moment and finished his first cup of coffee with a slurp, then headed up the stairs to wake the other residents of the house.

His first stop is Oliver's room, so he stopped quietly outside the white door that's plastered with stickers; a myriad of comic book characters, motor vehicles and crayon drawings of his family. Castle gingerly placed his ear on the wood, listening for possible signs that his son was already awake, but from the little snoring noises, he could tell that the boy was still sleeping soundly.

Rick gently opened the door and slithered in, crouching at the side of the boy's bright red race car shaped bedframe (surprisingly, it was Kate's idea) and watched the miniscule rise and fall of Oliver's chest.

The six-year-old's brown hair was sticking up in every direction, mainly flicking out at the bottom, a reminder that his parents should probably take him for another haircut soon. He was lying on his back with his arms sprawled out in opposite directions, his right leg poking out from underneath the red Lightening McQueen blanket.

Castle cracked a smile at Ollie's position, remembering how the boy has always slept in the strangest positions, with limbs stretching out and curling in. Even when he was a new-born and Kate swaddled him in a blanket perfectly, he always managed to make one arm poke out in his sleep somehow.

He slowly reached out a hand to Oliver's shoulder and nudged him gently, making the child stir with a few grumbles as his face scrunched up.

"Daddy. Sleepy." The boy complained, lifting his blanket over his face in a similar fashion to the way his father had earlier that morning.

"Come on, little man. Mommy's gone to work." Another incoherent mumble. "Remember the plan I told you about when I put you to bed last night?"

Ollie stayed silent for a few seconds as the cogs turn, then his eyes suddenly widened, his brown orbs filled with glee, "Makin' Mommy's present?"

Rick chuckled at his son's enthusiasm, "Yep! And I need your help." He added a pout for extra effect, which thankfully worked.

"Okay, Daddy!" He spoke, quickly bolting upright.

"That's my boy." Castle encouraged as Oliver hobbled out of bed, blearily wiping his eyes.

He froze in the spot as he looked up at his dad timidly, "Daddy? Can I dress me today?"

Rick grinned at the boy's independence, knowing that he prided himself in his little achievement, "Sure, little man." Ollie jumped on the spot, making Castle laugh heartily. "Once you're done, you can go downstairs, I've already made breakfast."

"Krispies?" He asked, pulling on the closet draw with all his might, smiling as it opened to reveal his folded shirts.

Castle smiled, knowing that Rice Krispies had always been his son's favourite, "Yep! On the table waiting for you."

"Can I mix with Coco Pops?" He inquired.

"Of course, buddy."

The boy seemed happy enough with the answers he had received, so he went back to pulling out multiple shirts with his hands, throwing them onto the carpeted floor. Rick would definitely have to fold those again before Kate returned.

"I'm going to wake up Ellie, I'll race you downstairs?" He smirked as Ollie rummaged through his clothes with a new excited vigour, as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Once he'd walked across the corridor, he stopped in front of the jungle themed door; mainly dark green with a vast range painted animals sprawled all over the wood and a vine spelling out the word 'Eleonora'. Castle smiled to himself as his brain whirred with memories of him and Kate decorating the room.

_"Kate, honey, why does your elephant have three legs?"_

_"It has four, one leg is behind the other! Anyway, you're one to talk, your monkey's head is almost two times bigger than its body."_

_"It's a caricature of a monkey, if you must know."_

_She scoffed at his reasoning and flicked her paintbrush at him, covering his right cheek in splatters of baby pink paint._

_"Mrs Castle, you have declared war."_

_No more paint was used on the walls after that point._

Bringing himself back to the present, Rick slowly walked into his youngest daughter's room, smiling at the sight of her curled in a ball in her white crib, her fingers curled around one of the wooden rungs as she slept.

As if she felt her father's presence, the three-year-old's eyes fluttered open as she smacked her lips together, "Eh-oh Daddy!" She spoke happily, reaching her arms upwards.

"Hello, little one." He whispered back as he tucked his hands under her arms, lifting her cautiously onto his chest.

"Food." Ellie whined as she wrapped a small arm around her dad's neck, making him chuckle.

"Food's ready downstairs, but first, let's get you dressed, huh, sweet pea?" He said, using his free hand to smooth down the girl's blonde waves. Kate had told him that her own hair was a fair blonde when she was young, but it slowly darkened with age. Secretly, Rick hoped that wasn't the case with Eleonora, loving the fact that she was so unique, despite how many jokes were made about the baby secretly being Ryan's, since Ellie looked more like Sarah Grace than Oliver.

"Dress!" She squealed, her body wriggling with excitement.

"Okay, the lady has spoken. A dress it is." Castle complied, tickling his daughter as he placed her down on the changing table.

* * *

 

Once he'd managed to successfully wiggle Ellie into a floral dress which was coloured with tones of blue, pink and purple, change her diaper, brush her hair and clip on a pink flower into it (which matched the rest of the outfit, or at least he thought so), he brought the girl downstairs in his arms, happy to see that Ollie was sitting at the breakfast bar, digging in to his fruit, red juice from the watermelon dripping down his chin.

Castle fastened Ellie into her yellow highchair and brought her plate and cup in front of her, smiling as she instantly grasped a piece of banana and shoved it into her mouth with a toothy grin.

He sat down in front of his children, bringing his hands together on the table in order to look serious as he explained the plan, "It's a special day today."

"Valentine's day!" Ollie said perfectly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Yes, that's right," Rick praised as Oliver perked up with pride, "So what does that mean?"

"You show people that you love them and give them hugs and kisses and presents." He spoke once again, relaying what he had been taught in school that week in the lesson where they had made Valentine's cards.

"Kissies! Mwah!" Ellie supplied, spraying milk everywhere as she opened her mouth, prompting Rick to stand up and wipe her face with a cloth.

"So, I think it would be nice if we made Mommy a cake. Is that a good idea?" Castle continued.

Ellie was quick to nod, but Oliver seemed to look pensive, "But Ms. Bates say that Daddies give Mommies flowers and jew- jewel-" The boy huffed, "Sparkly thingys."

Castle paused as he thought about his son's point, "Well, maybe Mommy will think that making a cake is more personal, since it's made by us."

Ollie still didn't look convinced, so Rick added, "If we have time before Mommy comes home, how about we go and buy her some flowers?"

To this, the boy nodded fervently, "'Kay!"

"Now that we know we're making a cake, what type of cake should we make?" He questioned.

"Choccy! Choccy!" Eleonora cheered, waving her arms around.

"Chocolate! Good choice, Ellie!" He enthused, making her girl giggle, a rosy tint appearing on her cheeks.

"And we write letters on the cake that say 'we love Mommy!'"

"With choccy!"

Rick laughed loudly at the enthusiasm the two were bringing, "Okay! A chocolate cake with icing. Correct?"

The children looked over at each other then back to their father, nodding in unison.

"Well then, let's get to work, my little helpers!" Rick cheered, as his kids clapped their hands.

* * *

He set out all of the ingredients one by one as he looked up a relatively simple chocolate cake recipe online, and was only half way through reading the webpage before he heard his daughter's squeal.

"Ollie, no!" Ellie protested, though the laughter leaving her lips comforted Rick.

But when he turned around, his eyes widened at the mess the two had already created in a matter of minutes.

Oliver was using a metal tablespoon to fling the sugar behind him, each spoonful emitting another mischievous giggle from him, and Ellie had somehow climbed up onto the countertop and opened the container of flour, shoving both her hands inside, feeling the powdery texture beneath her fingers.

Castle sighed loudly, but he couldn't find it within himself to be mad, knowing that he was signing up for antics like this as soon as he mentioned the idea to his children. The only thought in his mind was that they had to make the cake quickly, so he would have time to clean everything up before his wife got home, knowing that she was hoping for a relaxing day after a long shift at work, which didn't include hoovering and sweeping.

"Okay!" He interrupted, the kids whipping their heads up, guilty looks donning their faces, but Rick only smiled, "First we need butter, but since I'm an old man, I can't see it…" He whined, causing giggles to erupt from the others, "Who can find butter for me?"

Ollie and Ellie both lunged forward, their hands grasping at the packaged butter and holding it up as a joint effort. Rick thanked the two of them exaggeratedly, then measured the correct amount of butter and placed it into the silver mixing bowl.

"What's next, Daddy?" Ellie spoke up, a large grin covering her face.

"Hmm…" Rick said as his eyes ran over his laptop screen, "Sugar. Who has the sugar?"

"Me! Me!" Ollie cheered, arms flailing as the spoon threw more of the ingredient all over the floor.

"Good job! Okay, we need 175 grams of sugar." The boy's eyebrows furrowed as he looked up at his father in confusion, "That's about… twelve spoons?" Castle shrugged, more sugar wouldn't exactly make the cake taste worse.

Oliver nodded then reached his spoon into the bag of sugar, carefully measuring the correct amount with precision as he counted out each spoonful, his tongue poking out from behind his lips as he concentrated.

"Twelve! Done, Daddy!" He shouted loudly with glee, jumping up and down on his stool. Rick ruffled his son's hair, not even feeling a morsel of surprise when his hand came back covered in a dusting of white.

"Next… eggs." Castle pursed his lips in thought, "Maybe I should do this one."

The two children shook their heads as they disagreed. "No, we do it Daddy. We make cake for Mommy." Ollie explained with a serious expression.

"Yeah!" Ellie chimed in, crossing her arms across her chest, in a way that made her look like the spitting image of her mother, minus the flour covering every inch of her skin.

Rick sighed in resignation, "Okay…" He reached into the fridge and grabbed the carton of eggs, "But you have to be careful, we can't have any shells in the bowl."

Oliver picked up an egg and studied it intently, "How we do that?"

Rick chuckled at his confusion, "You pick up the egg like this…" The two younger ones followed his instructions, holding the eggs cautiously in their hands, "Then  _gently_  tap it on the side of the bowl, like this."

Castle showed the kids what to do, and they nodded as he finished. Oliver tapped the shell against the side of the bowl with infinite care, and when it finally cracked, he let the egg yolk and whites mix with the sugar and butter.

"I did it!" He cheered, his brown eyes glistening.

"That's my boy! Now you try, Ellie." He prompted. Eleonora looked at the bowl quizzically, then smashed the egg on the side of it, making it crack instantly, the insides spreading all down the side of the bowl and on the countertop.

The girl gasped and pointed at the mess she had created, "Uh-oh." She sat down in defeat, her lower lip trembling slightly, making Rick spring into action.

"No, no, no. It's okay, sweet pea. We have loads more eggs, see?" The father opened the carton, displaying the three remaining eggs.

Ellie shook her head with a sniffle, "No, Daddy." She paused as if to think of the correct word, "Can't."

Castle frowned as he saw how disheartened his daughter had become, so he moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her after he picked up a fresh egg.

"It's okay, Ellie-bug, let's do it together, yeah?" He offered with a gentle voice, making the girl nod slowly, "Put your hands on mine, and we can both crack the egg."

Eleonora did as she was instructed, placing her small palms over her Dad's hands as he tapped then cracked the egg perfectly, making her squeal with delight. She kicked her legs in excitement, almost tipping the bowl off the counter if Oliver hadn't quickly grasped it.

"Great job, sweetheart!" Rick praised, pressing a light kiss to Ellie's pink cheek, then blowing a raspberry on the skin, another squeal leaving her lips.

"What's next?" Ollie asked, eager to finish the recipe as he looked over at his Dad.

"Let's see… Flour!" His eyes raked over the scene, "Who's in charge of flour, I wonder…" He said sarcastically, his gaze roaming over the child that was almost covered head to toe in the substance.

"Me!" The three-year-old exclaimed, pumping her fists in the air.

"Okay, Ellie, we need lots and lots and  _lots_  of flour, can you do that?" Castle asked with a smirk.

"Yeah!" She affirmed, frantically moving the spoon she was grasping in the flour container then over the bowl repeatedly. As the two boys were laughing at the girl's enthusiasm, Rick lost count of how many spoonfuls his daughter had put into the mix.

"That's probably 200 grams…" He whispered to himself before confronting Ellie, "Good job, sweet pea!" She immediately dropped the spoon and sat down with a thump, a proud grin engulfing her face.

"Now we need cocoa powder, I wonder which one that is…" Rick questioned.

"The brown one, Daddy!" Oliver answered without hesitation.

"Do you want to do that one, buddy?" The boy nodded before Castle had even finished his sentence.

"Okay! Do 3 spoons of cocoa then."

Ollie instantly obeyed and placed the powder into the mix, inevitably leaving about the same amount over the counter as in the bowl, but grinned proudly once he was finished nonetheless.

"Now we need a tiny bit of baking powder, can you do that too, Ollie?" Castle asked, seeing as Ellie was once again infatuated by the flour, repeatedly grabbing handfuls then letting the grains slip out between her fingers.

Before Rick could stop him, the boy tipped a slightly excessive amount of baking powder into the mixture, "That good, Daddy?"

"More than good, bud." He confirmed, with a slight amount of worry laced in his voice.

"Last thing, we need some vanilla extract." He read off from the webpage, and Ellie's head instantly snapped up.

"Ice cream!" She squealed, clapping her floury hands together, creating white puffs.

"Yeah, like the ice cream!" Castle encouraged, "Do you want to do the last bit then, Ellie?"

She nodded with excitement, stretching out her arms as Rick gave her the bottle of vanilla extract.

"Okay, sweetheart, we only need a little-"

Without warning, Eleonora poured almost half the bottle into the bowl with a giggle.

"…Bit." Rick finished hopelessly.

Ellie noted the tone in her father's voice, "Bad?" She asked, her lower lip beginning to pout.

"No! Not at all, sweetie!" He backtracked, donning a large smile once again, "It's all good."

The toddler smiled once again, making a wave of relief spread over Castle. A moment of silence passed before Ollie spoke up.

"Daddy, we done yet? Wanna go watch Spider-Man." He huffed, slumping his shoulders.

Rick laughed loudly, "Sure, all that's left is to mix it all together, and we need someone with strong, muscly arms for that… Like me!" He flexed his arms with a grunt, making the two children giggle as they jumped off the countertop and hurried over to the couch, not caring about their messy clothing.

Castle smiled as they ran together, Ollie holding his sister's hand when she almost tripped over her own feet. When his kids were out of sight, he returned his gaze back to the trashed kitchen, which was completely covered in white and brown powder. With a content sigh, he began to get to work.

* * *

Once the cake was placed into the oven, he joined the two in the living room as they watched the Avengers cartoon, Ellie also drawing in her notepad as she laid on her stomach, whereas Ollie was completely entranced by the show, his mouth gaping open slightly as he watched his favourite heroes intently. As soon as the credits rolled, a loud  _'ping!'_ sounded from behind them, making all three people turn their heads.

"What's that, Daddy?" Ollie asked, his face showing slight apprehension.

"It means…" He paused for dramatic effect, making both of the children hold their breath in anticipation, "The cake is done!"

The two children gasped loudly, launching from the couch cushions as they sprinted back to the kitchen, Ellie crawling as it was a much faster method for her. Rick laughed loudly as he followed his two crazy children as their squeals filled the air.

* * *

After taking the cake out of the oven and batting tiny hands away from it until it cooled, Castle finally placed the cake onto a pink plate (given as a gift to Kate at Ellie's baby shower) and handed each of the children a small tube of white icing.

"I'm gonna write 'We love you Mommy, happy Valentine's Day'!" Ollie said determinedly, already raising the tube.

"Isn't that a bit long for this cake?" Rick questioned, to which the boy hummed pensively, "How about…" The dad began bargaining, "We write 'We love you Mommy', but we do a heart for 'love'. That should all fit!"

Oliver seemed to mull this over for a moment, before nodding soundly.

"I draw hearts!" Ellie giggled, already squeezing the icing into her mouth and licking her lips thoroughly.

"Sounds great, Ellie! You do that!" Rick enthused, lifting the toddler onto the counter, chuckling as she crawled onto her hands and feet, hovering over the chocolate cake.

Castle stood at the side, watching the two artists work on their masterpiece, but Ollie's voice piped up with a grumble, "Daddy, you can't watch, it's a surprise!"

He pretended to be offended, "What do you mean? I helped make it! Are you turning on me now?"

"Yep!" The boy confirmed with a strict face, stopping his icing until his dad was gone from their sight.

Castle looked over at Ellie for backup, but she only nodded, which he took as agreeing with her brother, so he huffed loudly, "Fine!" He whined, "But I'll be watching TV if you need anything."

He heard a chorus of 'Okay Daddy!' as he turned around and left cautiously, looking back at the two, but he knew he was caught once his son raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, prompting him to raise his hands up.

"I'm going!" He whispered with innocence as he continued to shuffle backwards.

"Mhm hmm." Ollie answered in a suspicious tone, making Rick stifle a laugh behind his tightly closed lips.

Maybe visits from Aunt Lanie should be a bit more limited.

* * *

He was distractedly flicking through channels when he finally heard the shout of 'Daddy! We're done!' hailing from the kitchen about ten minutes later.

"Okay then!" He replied, springing up to his feet, "Let's see what my little geniuses have created!"

As he reached the counter, the two children were gazing up at him with twin, beaming smiles, their faces and hands plastered with icing.

"Is there any icing left?" Rick teased, taking in the surroundings, which seemed to be just as covered as the two munchkins before him, even though he had already rigorously cleaned the room earlier.

"Daddy," Ollie sighed, "Just look!"

After being scolded by his son, Castle glanced down at the brown cake, which was now mainly white. If he squinted, he could see the initial 'We love you Mommy' message on what seemed to be the first layer of icing, though it seems Oliver had run out of room, since it read 'We love you Momm' instead. The top was covered in hearts with wobbly lines (no doubt Ellie's work), covering up pretty much every blank space on the surface of the cake. There were a few other designs which he tilted his head to make sense of, but it was soon explained to him.

"See my buccifly, Daddy?" Eleonora exclaimed, her chubby finger pointing to the top right of the cake, where a drawing of a butterfly was placed.

"I see it! Very beautiful, Ellie." Rick praised, stroking his hand through his daughter's short waves of hair.

"And I drawed a car for Mommy!" Ollie said as he pointed, this time Rick's gaze being shown to the bottom of the cake, where a rectangle with four circles was drawn, with the word 'vroom' written above it.

"That's awesome, little man!" Castle brought up his hand, which Oliver eagerly slapped for a hi-5.

"And we tried to make elephants for Mommy, like the ones on her table, but I don't think they look very good." Ollie spoke up once more, but in a more sombre tone.

"No! I'm sure they look great!" The adult supported, his eyes searching over the cake to find the drawings. Suddenly, he found a line of four elephants across the top of the cake. They each had different sized legs and trunks, but he smiled widely nonetheless. "They do look great! I knew they would. Who drew them?"

Ollie answered "We both did" just as Ellie screamed "Me!" making Castle laugh.

"Well I love them, and Mommy will too. And I like that there are four of them, like us." He described, each word making the smiles on his children's face widen.

"Lexi and Gram and Grampa elephants are on vacation together. That's why they aren't there." Ollie explained in a clear voice, which Rick was sure was just an excuse that there wasn't any more room on the cake's surface, but he was amazed by his son's imagination.

"I see." Rick nodded, then turned to both of the kids, "Well, you've both done an incredible, fantastic, awesome, super-duper job with Mommy's cake!" He exclaimed, patting both his children on the back as they laughed, "Now, I need to clean up the kitchen so Mommy doesn't get mad."

"But Mommy won't be mad when she sees our cake. She'll be happy!" Oliver reasoned, to which Rick grinned.

"I'm sure she'll be over the moon, little man." He answered honestly.

* * *

As soon as Kate approached the apartment building, one of the new doormen greeted her.

"Home early, Detective?" He grinned as he opened the door for her.

"My Captain pretty much forced us to leave, since there was no active case." She explained.

"Eh, probably because she got Valentine's plans of her own to get to." He teased, to which Kate nodded.

"I guess I do now, too." She answered with a girn as she reached the elevator.

* * *

As Kate entered the loft, the first thing she saw was her husband's butt wagging up in the air as he was crawling around the kitchen on all fours, making her bite her lower lip to stifle her giggle.

"What's happened in here?"

Rick startled at his wife's words, banging his head on the counter as he looked up from the floor, attempting to hide the icing-covered cloth behind him as Kate approached.

"Nothing." He quickly answered as he shrugged.

"Really?" Kate replied with a curious lilt in her voice, "Because it looks like the gingerbread man ran in here and puked on everything."

With a sigh, Rick opened his mouth to explain, but the loud approaching pitter patter of feet cut him off, followed by shouts of 'Mommy! Mommy!'

Kate immediately crouched down, opening her arms as her children ran into them, attacking her with hugs and kisses.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy!" Ollie grinned, as Ellie jumped up and down beside him.

"Aw, thank you, sweet boy." Kate replied with a laugh.

"We maked you a cake!" He continued, Ellie nodding vigorously.

"Oh, so that's what that icing massacre is about…" She mused, smirking up at her husband who bashfully scratched the back of his neck.

"Look, Mommy!" Ellie squealed, grasping her mother's hand in hers, using all her might to pull her along. Oliver quickly caught on and grabbed Kate's other hand.

When she finally stopped in the kitchen, her mouth fell open with an 'oh!' as she ran her eyes over the creation.

"It says 'We love you Mommy!'" Oliver explained with a flourish of his hand.

"An' it's choccy!"

"I drawed you a car! It's Lightening McQueen!"

"Buccifly!"

"And Ellie drawed hearts for you, and I drawed stars!"

"Hearts!"

"And it has vanilla and sugar and flour and eggs! Daddy helped us make it!"

"Yay!"

Kate laughed loudly at the children's excitement, and leaned down to reach both of them, lifting one up in each arm and holding them to her chest, "I love it, thank you so so much, little monkeys! You've had a busy day, huh?"

"Yeah!" Ellie agreed immediately.

"Daddy has too, he helped us with mixing and putting the cake in the oven and icing and he did all the cleaning up! Two times!" Ollie added.

Kate looked over at her partner, who was now sporting a puppy-dog look that screamed 'please forgive me for this atrocious mess', making her laugh once more. Knowing that he was forgiven, he walked forward and wrapped his arms around the other three, whispering into the kids' ears, "Ready… One, two, three!"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy!" The three exclaimed in unison, though Eleonora's was mainly mumbles until the last word.

Kate beamed, cursing the tears that welled up in her eyes, "Oh! Thank you, I love you all very very much."

"Love you lots and lots, Mommy!" Oliver cheered, smacking a loud kiss on his mother's left cheek.

"Mwah!" Ellie squealed, bringing her lips to Kate's other cheek.

Kate looked over expectantly at Rick, who feigned a whining sigh, "If I have to…" He leaned forward and captured Kate's lips with a quick kiss, feeling her smile underneath his lips.

"Okay, how about you two go watch TV while Mommy and I cook dinner, and we can each eat some cake for dinner, sound good?"

The two youngest shouted their approval of the plan as they ran back into the living room, returning to their show.

With hesitance, Kate opened her mouth to question Rick, but he butted in before her, "Don't worry, they won't know the difference between their cake and the one I bought yesterday once it's sliced."

Beckett let out a relieved exhale as Castle continued, "I think the amount of vanilla extract and baking powder that cake has could actually kill a small animal."

"Still, the thought was nice. And thank you for helping them." Kate spoke, sauntering closer to her husband, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"It was my pleasure." He answered as his hands caressed her waist, "Except for the cleaning."

"Which, speaking of," Kate replied, running her fingers through the hairs at the nape of his neck "You should get back to that, because the plans I have for tonight don't involve cleaning, or being anywhere near the kitchen."

Without a second of hesitance, Castle broke away from their embrace, falling back down to the floor and scrubbing with a newfound energy, making Kate burst into laughter once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day, my lovelies!
> 
> Lou xo


End file.
